Highmark announced that it has purchased full control of Gateway Health, a company that serves more than 355,000 Pennsylvanians with health insurance. Highmark Wholecare will be the new name for Gateway Health’s goods. Highmark’s arrangement with Mercy Health’s parent firm, Trinity Health, was not made public.
- Prior to the deal, Highmark held a 50 percent ownership interest in Gateway. Gateway was created in 1992 through a partnership between Highmark and Mercy Health. The agreement will allow for “a more coordinated, personalized, technology-enabled experience” for members, Highmark Health COO and interim president and CEO for Gateway Health Karen Hanlon said in a statement.
- “This acquisition will help us further our mission and better serve current and future Medicaid and Medicare, members across Pennsylvania,” Highmark Health Plan President Deborah Rice-Johnson said in a statement.
- Highmark had owned 50% of Downtown-based Gateway with Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health subsidiary Mercy Health since 1992 when Gateway was created. Gateway is among the private insurers in Pennsylvania that are paid by the state to cover people with Medicaid or Medicare benefits.
- That will bring Gateway Health’s insurance products into further alignment with Highmark’s, which includes the digital initiative known as Living Health that Highmark Health rolled out last year. The new products will be offered beginning Jan. 1, 2022.
- “The transition to the Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield brands is one we believe will take the concept of Wholecare to a whole new level,” said Highmark Health COO and Gateway Health Interim President Karen Hanlon. “Our members will enjoy access to the added peace of mind of knowing they’re part of one of the most trusted health care brands in the country.”